Campers and the high country?

Submitted: Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 08:12

ThreadID: 89434 Views:3415 Replies:10 FollowUps:4

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Member - Boobook

I am getting lazy with camping, and want something for the high country beyond tents and swags.

I was heading down the path of getting a ute and trayback camper but saw the Tvan at the show. Being a smaller camper with good departure angles I thought it might be an alternative, and would be great for touring. I have a 200 series (with muddies ) so towing won't be an issue.

My concern is negotiating switchbacks, slippery hills, etc

I would be interested in hearing from people who have campers who use them on tracks in the high country or similar. Are places like Mayford, Minors flat etc possible safely? Could you go up/ down Billy Goat Bluff, Collingwood Spur etc for example?

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Reply By: olcoolone - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 08:52

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 08:52

A "real" off road camper can go nearly everywhere you 4x4 can go..... it comes down to your skills and courage.

Most who say you can't do this or can't do that have never done it or are relying on their own low skill sets.

Diff locks, suspension lift and winch are a must if tackling harder tracks.... you might never need them but when you do they are worth every cent.

One thing you do need is very good reversing skills including 3 point turns with a trailer on.

But there are some places I would not take a camper dependent on weather..... with a camper you have ZERO chance of making a mistake.

AnswerID: 467069

Reply By: Bushranger1 - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 09:32

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 09:32

G,day Boobook,
I have been down all those tracks you mention & I would take an off road camper down or up those tracks. I used to own a camper trailer & took it up & down tracks similar to these. It's all a matter of your driving skills & keeping the speed down & correct tyre pressures.

One thing i would suggest is electric brakes. Overide brakes will not work if you are losing traction going uphill. I had a couple of occations where forward motion stopped going uphill do to loose rocks & it was comforting to have my rig & trailer stopped on the hill to give me some time to plan out my next move. A friend of mine was pulled backwards down a hill by his trailer because the overide brakes did not stop the trailer in this situation resulting in vehicle & trailer damage. Also make sure you order of road magnets for your electric brakes or the internals will shake apart on corrugations.
Hope this helps.
Cheers
Stu.

AnswerID: 467076

Reply By: Andrew & Jen - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 09:40

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 09:40

Hullo Boobook

We have a Tvan which we tow with a Series 80. We also frequently tour the Vic HC. In theory, the Tvan will go anywhere the 80 will and in practice, most places. If the turning circle of the towing vehicle is good (which is the case with the 80), then the Tvan will follow OK. In wet conditions, muddies are essential when you have another 1.2 tonnes to drag along behind. In this respect my ATs are inadequate and I will be swaping them for a set of muddies in the future for use in the HC.

IMHO, the real issue is that many of the tracks are too narrow for CTs. Meeting other people often requires backing up to the last passing opportunity and this becomes problematic if 2 CTs meet. Another issue is increased track damage due to extra traction required. You will always get the idiots trying to prove something like the 4WD Action mob using McFarlane Flat / Cobberas a couple of years ago.

We tend to use base camps which are off the beaten track but still reasonably accessible and do day trips or, if longer, use a swag or tent which we carry as well.

Cheers
Andrew

I personally would not tackle Billy Goat Bluff with a trailer these days because of traffic volumes (having gone down it in 1989 with a unbraked trailer).

AnswerID: 467077

Reply By: Beemer - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 11:12

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 11:12

G'day,

We have a Defender and Tvan, With care we have taken it into Wonnangatta through Zeka and also Wombat. Down Billly Goat and also Black soil and Butchers track into the Mccalister. Recovery gear is important. We have had one hilll where we needed to winch both car and van after heavy rain and slippery clay. The key is to have contingency plan when things don't go right. I carry additional recovery gear to help in these situations, this includes electric and hand winch. Run Cooper STT on the van. Love the Tvan, take it anywhere. But for the high country keep the weight down. Our van is a short drw bar model. this works extremely well in the High Country. Be mindful though that in some situations you can have difficulty get the back door open fully on hills/spoon drains if you get stuck. menas drawers wont open. We ended up having a lid system fitted to alleviate this issue.
PM me if you want more info.

You soon adapt with a trailer. Just make sure if you get stuck that you think things through.

Beemer

AnswerID: 467089

Reply By: Member - Duncs - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 11:36

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 11:36

In 1996 I bought a Trak Shak and towed it on my trip to WA. Not long after getting home I started planning a trip to the Cape.

Everyone and I mean everyone I spoke to said you can't tow a trailer to Cape York. They were all wrong. We went in May after the wettest wet season in 42 years. It was a whole lot of fun, challenging at times but the only problem I had was getting a tree stuck between car and trailer on a tight bypass track. It probably cost me 10 min.

I have towed the same trailer in the high country and had a guy in a monster truck tell me I could not tow it up the track I had just come up. He too was wrong. I don't know the names of the tracks I have been on but I will bet there are a lot of people prepared to tell me I can't get along them.

The place I regularly have the most trouble with the trailer is in the carpark at McDonalds when people park in the trailer parking spaces and leave me with a long walk.

Olcoolone is right the limiting factor is driver ability, as it is with any 4wd adventure.

Duncs

AnswerID: 467091

Follow Up By: Crackles - Sunday, Oct 09, 2011 at 19:19

Sunday, Oct 09, 2011 at 19:19

"...the limiting factor is driver ability..."
The key limiting factors when towing in the High Country are power to weight, traction & local knowledge. Doesn't matter who you are if you run out of traction due to wet conditions no amount of ability will get you up the steeper hills unless of course you have some way of overcoming gravity. Experience knowing where the bad sections & passing opportunities are or which tracks to take as detours are far more important than ability due to the maze of varying grade tracks there are to choose.
Many of those same tracks you think were easy Duncs can be imposible to tow in the wet.
Craig.........

FollowupID: 741312

Follow Up By: Member - Duncs - Monday, Oct 10, 2011 at 19:36

Monday, Oct 10, 2011 at 19:36

Craig,

'Many of those same tracks you think were easy Duncs can be imposible to tow in the wet.'

I know that, it was raining when I was there. I lost traction on a steep incline and jacknifed the trailer trying to back down.

I recovered it using a high lift jack, lots of sweat and not a little bit of experience, in those days I didn't have a winch so no way to overcome gravity. It took me a couple of goes and I tried more than one route up the same track. I never said it was easy. I said I did it

Power to weight is rarely a problem in a post 2000 4wd, traction often is especially when the power available is misused (e.g. the guy in the monster truck) and local knowledge, that's why I got stopped the first time - I didn't have any.

I am not saying I am the best driver out there but I do know my vehicle and I have been stuck more than once and in more than one type of situation. When you travel in remote areas on your own you get good at self recovery. You also learn to look at your problem from a few different perspectives and find a different way out or you turn around and go somewhere else, I've done that more than once too.

The Victorian High Country is one part of the world I would like to spend more time exploring. I know that when I go back I will find more challenging routes than those I have already travelled, some will probably stop me. That is as it should be.

Boobook's question was about whether or not he could tow a trailer in the mountains, my answer was meant to encourage him to do just that. I stand by that ambition.

Duncs

FollowupID: 741385

Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 13:33

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 13:33

I share the same concern. In the High Country, we used to be on the move each day and look for the hard tracks. But since getting the Tvan, we prefer to use the more easily accessible camp spots as a base camp and do the hard tracks as day trips. I just don't fancy reversing a Tvan down some of the steep tracks.

People can call me a whimp for not taking the Tvan up the steepest tracks, but why stress yourself and butcher the tracks unnecessarily?

AnswerID: 467103

Reply By: Zebra400 - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 13:35

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 13:35

There are a couple of issues here. Can the vehicle handle the climbs with the T Van attached. In the dry, there shouldnt be an problems, provided you have good off road tyres.

2nd issue is doing these tracks in the wet is even very difficult without the trailer. Especially Collingwood, I heard on the radio a couple of years back, 2 clowns using chains to get up Collingwood. As you can guess, things change in the wet.

The 3rd issue is other vehicles on the tracks. If you are out there on your own, then in the dry, you would probably be OK, but get a few other convoys, and this puts pressure on all vehicles of who has to back up when trying to pass.

Personally, I would base camp and leave the trailer there, and then go out and explore these great tracks.

Zebra400

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AnswerID: 467104

Reply By: Member - Chris and Lindsay (VI - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 17:18

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 17:18

I would suggest you camp at Tom Groggin and just do day trips. Please don't contribute to damaging the tracks for the rest of us. This is not meant to be critical. Chris.

AnswerID: 467118

Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 19:16

Saturday, Oct 08, 2011 at 19:16

Chris and Lindsay

My intention is to find a spot and camp, I am long over the "lets go 4wding" days. I just wanted advice on what is possible.

Sorry, perhaps I wasn't clear, I wasn't seeking opinions about what people think I should or should not do.

FollowupID: 741219

Reply By: Crackles - Sunday, Oct 09, 2011 at 01:23

Sunday, Oct 09, 2011 at 01:23

Boo a 200 series towing a TVan would have the power to get out of Mayfords & Collingwood in the dry & up Billy goat in the wet. I can't see even the most capable Cruiser pulling a 1.2 tonne camper up the first steep pinch on Miners Flat unless they've rerouted the track since I was last there.
Switchbacks generally aren't too much of an issue with a short drawbar except on the more extreme climbs like Dingo Hill out of Caledonia.
Choosing appropiate routes or campsites become far more critical when it rains up the High Country as not only can't you climb up many hills but steep decents can be plain dangerous. Mayfords for example which has only one track out may be impossible to exit for days. Relatively straight forward tracks like Zeka spur out of Wonnangatta (which I've seen many on here recommend for towing) was taking the trailer brigade up to 6 hours to climb last Melbourne Cup weekend. River crossings too become that little bit harder when water levels are high.
Meeting other cars on narrow tracks can be critical particually when climbing as it can be impossible to restart or dangerous to try reversing. In the past we often run a car in front to warn oncoming traffic we have campers in tow.
I suppose since it's been dry for past 10 years or so most people towing have been getting around without too many concerns, but having seen how tracks change quickly in the wet I normally recommend base camping at easy destinations then doing days trips into the more difficult areas.
Cheers Craig............

AnswerID: 467147

Follow Up By: Member - Duncs - Monday, Oct 10, 2011 at 19:42

Monday, Oct 10, 2011 at 19:42

Craig,

I support your coments about oncoming traffic. As I said in my reply to you above, getting jacknifed while reversing is a very real possibility and causes big problems.

When I travelled the High Country I was travelling through so did not have the option of making a base camp, but that is what I do almost everywhere.

Duncs

FollowupID: 741387

Reply By: BrownyGU - Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011 at 00:08

Tuesday, Oct 11, 2011 at 00:08

Boobook,

Just a little tip (if you don't all ready do it) I reckon it is really important when towing around some of Vic high country tracks, to make good use of your uhf, always try to warn people of your position and intended direction, can save a lot of heart ache!

Cheers....Browny

AnswerID: 467308